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At a Tennessee hospital, a nurse stole fentanyl and AI missed it, state records say
CBS News ^ | 06/01/2026 | Brett Kelman and Darius Tahir

Posted on 06/01/2026 11:56:41 AM PDT by DFG

About a year ago at Erlanger Baroness, the largest hospital in Chattanooga, anesthesia staff noticed that a nurse was slurring his words and struggling to stay awake while on duty in the surgery center, according to a Tennessee Board of Nursing consent order.

In the days that followed, the nurse failed a drug test and was fired, the order states. The nurse later admitted that for months he had pilfered and abused fentanyl left over after surgeries, sometimes daily, according to the order.

Under most circumstances, this would be a routine case of what is known as "drug diversion," the unlawful taking of controlled substances from healthcare facilities — believed to be so widespread that it occurs at just about every U.S. hospital.

But the Erlanger case stands out because a high-tech watchdog was supposed to be on guard.

The hospital uses the newest line of defense against drug diversion: Sentri7, medication-monitoring software powered by artificial intelligence and designed to detect missing drugs faster than any human can. But for months at Erlanger, Sentri7 failed to raise alarms, overlooking missing drugs and other "inconsistencies" that "should have been flagged," the nursing board's order states.

The Erlanger case, which has not been previously reported, offers a rare glimpse at an apparent failure of AI drug diversion software used in hundreds of U.S. hospitals with little transparency or oversight. Healthcare facilities are not required to disclose their implementation of this kind of software or report malfunctions to anyone, so there is no full account of how widely these programs are used or how often they fail.

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: anesthesia; brettkelman; cbs; crime; dariustahir; drugs; erlangerbaroness; fentanyl; nurse; seebs; sentri7; theft

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1 posted on 06/01/2026 11:56:41 AM PDT by DFG
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To: DFG

They got program input from the Nurse Jackie’s of the world!


2 posted on 06/01/2026 11:59:02 AM PDT by aynrandfreak (Being a Democrat means never having to say you're sorry)
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To: DFG

Why would you need AI for simple inventory management?
* Quantity X checked out
* Quantity Y checked in
* Quantity X - Quantity Y used
* Quantity Y now in inventory

But I’m not an inventory control expert, so what do I know?


3 posted on 06/01/2026 12:02:06 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom ( )
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To: DFG

Drug abuse is a serious problem among medical professionals.

Lots of opportunity, lots of reasons to look the other way.


4 posted on 06/01/2026 12:03:09 PM PDT by marktwain (----------------------)
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To: DFG

The AI vulnerability: GIGO.


5 posted on 06/01/2026 12:03:56 PM PDT by HIDEK6 (God bless Donald Trump )
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

NOT ONE BIT DIFFERENT THAN THE MATH IN A CHECKBOOK.


6 posted on 06/01/2026 12:04:31 PM PDT by ridesthemiles (not giving up on TRUMP---EVER)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

What about Quantity reported as thrown away?

Left over from patient use, and cannot be put back into inventory?

What about over prescribing and undercounting?


7 posted on 06/01/2026 12:04:54 PM PDT by marktwain (----------------------)
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To: DFG

It’s only as good as the data provided. And still might have found it faster than a human can. 20 minutes faster maybe.


8 posted on 06/01/2026 12:09:12 PM PDT by discostu (like a dog being shown a card trick)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Back in the day meds are walked through with two people, signed off with two people. Discards signed by two people besides all the charting and signatures and checks along the way including the pharmacy.

I suppose there’s some residual in surgery the guy could siphon but why take a chance on a high?


9 posted on 06/01/2026 12:15:51 PM PDT by Karliner (Heb 4:12 Rom 8:28 Rev 3, "...This is the end of the beginning." Churchill)
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To: Karliner

I meant triplicate meds. But I’m old. Maybe that doesn’t happen anymore?


10 posted on 06/01/2026 12:16:40 PM PDT by Karliner (Heb 4:12 Rom 8:28 Rev 3, "...This is the end of the beginning." Churchill)
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To: marktwain

Like I said, I’m no inventory expert, but simple Pluses and Minuses doesn’t seem to be AI turf.


11 posted on 06/01/2026 12:19:36 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom ( )
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To: DFG

The capability of AI is inferior to what humans can do.

This has always been true, and always will.


12 posted on 06/01/2026 12:26:17 PM PDT by reasonisfaith (What are the personal implications if the Resurrection of Christ is a true event in history?)
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To: DFG
"Many hospital workers just use that as a cover for easy access to drugs"


13 posted on 06/01/2026 12:27:07 PM PDT by montag813
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To: DFG

I assume there are human database entries that may be deliberately misreported.

If the nurse reports the drug as returned to supply, missing amounts may not show up for a while.


14 posted on 06/01/2026 12:59:49 PM PDT by citizen (All Bush-era RINOs have got to be primaried out.)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

You forgot Quantity To Waste.


15 posted on 06/01/2026 1:12:20 PM PDT by TexasGator (11i11'./1)
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To: reasonisfaith

“The capability of AI is inferior to what humans can do.”

The capability of AI is inferior to what a human expert operating at 100% attention can do.


16 posted on 06/01/2026 1:13:48 PM PDT by TexasGator (11i11'./1)
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To: reasonisfaith
"The capability of AI is inferior to what humans can do."

Better than some humans.


17 posted on 06/01/2026 1:21:08 PM PDT by TexasGator (11i11'./1)
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To: DFG
I read for five minutes, and I still have no idea what the tracking software was supposed to do, or what it failed to do.

This reads like a premeditated attack on one brand of drug tracking software.

How do we know the guilty drug consumer was not reporting false numbers?

18 posted on 06/01/2026 1:39:59 PM PDT by zeestephen (Trump Landslide? Kamala lost the election by 230,000 votes, in WI, MI, and PA.)
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To: DFG

hospital I worked at had nurses digging in the sharps box to get to the naughty stuff. how messed up would you need to be to do that? They had some early Ai that would flag inappropriate medical record use. for instance if you looked at a record that of a patient that lived on the same street it would flag you.


19 posted on 06/01/2026 1:56:20 PM PDT by russdawg
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To: marktwain

Got to make sure the dope is up to spec for the patient.


20 posted on 06/01/2026 4:16:52 PM PDT by Scrambler Bob ( My pronoun is EXIT. Generally full of /S -- Living with Havana Syndrome -infected from Main Stream)
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